Rene Farrell of Australia celebrates the wicket of Lydia Greenway to win the Women’s Ashes during the second Twenty20 at Hove.
Photograph: Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images

Australia’s Women regained the Ashes for the first time in five years after an embarrassing England batting performance handed them a 20 run victory.

From a batting perspective, neither side shone. Too many times batsmen played across the line. Shots were mis-timed, the ball found the fielders regularly and the bowlers on both sides deserved better support. But once Australia took early wickets, they ran with their advantage. It was England’s poorest performance of the series as they were skittled out for their lowest Twenty20 international score.

England began strongly. Picking up from where they left off at Chelmsford, winning the toss and bowling first, they offered Australia no width. Anya Shrubsole was superb as Australia struggled to read the pitch. On a slow deck, they threw themselves into their shots too quickly. Ellyse Perry was a perfect example of this stuttering mentality. Eating up dot balls, she tried to chip Shrubsole over mid-wicket. Too early on the shot, she was easily caught by Danielle Hazell.

England’s spinners did not bowl outrageous deliveries that turned a mile. There were full tosses aplenty – but Australia kept bunting them to the fielders. Meg Lanning was desperate to take on the spinners. She pushed for singles and turned her wrists for three sublime boundaries. Elyse Villani at the other end could not rotate the strike or find the boundary, putting increasing pressure on Lanning.

Tied down, Australia lost their way. They were forced into shots that looked uncomfortable, playing across the line far too often. Lanning fell sweeping, hit full on the pad by Grundy; Villani’s awkward vigil was ended in the same manner by Hazell. When Alex Blackwell was caught and bowled by Grundy, trying to drive her over her head, Australia had lost three wickets for eight runs.

Grace Harris offered some late resistance for Australia. She danced down the pitch to Hazell, launching her for six over mid-off. England’s fielding slipped slightly from the standard set at Chelmsford. Lauren Winfield shelled an easy, albeit high, catch from Harris on 12. She added only two more runs before she was trapped bang in front of her stumps by Shrubsole.

Whether through tired minds or nerves, Australia’s batting looked miles away from its previous dominance. Jess Jonassen was run-out through a communications mix-up, while Alyssa Healy was bowled first ball having an audacious slog-sweep at Brunt. They looked relieved to have registered three figures, finishing below par on 107 for seven.

It was testament to Australia’s fighting spirit that they came back so brilliantly. England made a meal of their reply. Charlotte Edwards fell to Jonassen’s left-arm spin, trying to pull a flatter delivery that snuck onto the stumps. Winfield capped off a poor game by mistiming a drive off Perry and was easily caught at mid-on. Natalie Sciver was walking back after the next ball, bowled by a full, straight delivery that had middle stump cartwheeling out of the ground.

England’s batting, however, was nothing short of awful. The game dissolved into who would blink first. Australia held their nerve beautifully. Farrell was excellent, forcing Taylor to chip a full delivery to mid-on and bowling Heather Knight with a slower yorker.

It was a credit to Lydia Greenway that she battled so hard to hand England an unlikely victory. She had some good support from Brunt, the ultimate team player, and Danni Wyatt. But with so many wickets lost, England were never in a position to take the attack to Australia.

England’s batsmen had the same problems as Australia. They couldn’t find the boundary and the in-fielding was tight and restricted the singles. Brunt was genuinely distressed when she chopped Sarah Coyte onto her stumps. For a time, Wyatt’s sparky batting looked like it might achieve the impossible. But when she was run out by Farrell it was all over. Greenway was, fittingly, the last batsman to fall. Caught on the boundary, she turned away as Australia ran riot across the outfield. The last game ultimately followed the story of the series – England were not good enough when it mattered. They only have themselves to blame.